The Queen's Champion
by Artemius
Summary: Rose takes some time to rethink her choices in life and bond with her parents. This is a continuation of my Your Turn series, but it can be read alone. Updated weekly.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One

Lissa was hiding something from me, and I didn't like it. No one likes being kept in the dark. When secrets require psychic exertion beyond what most people are capable of, it's really bad. Lissa wasn't above putting this much effort into planning a surprise birthday party for me, but my birthday was months away. No, whatever had her blocking our bond for such long periods of time lately, it wasn't good.

To make matters worse, I couldn't talk to anyone else about this. After finally taking down the Master last year, Lissa and I had agreed to keep the fact that our bond was reestablished a secret. She thought it would be a political advantage to not let everyone know about us. I just didn't want to admit to Dimitri that I had died, again. So much for the third time being the charm.

You would think being bonded would bring us closer together than ever. But we had continued to drift apart. It seemed like we couldn't talk about anything without fighting. Sometimes I felt like I'd never know what she was really thinking if it wasn't for the fact that I could read her mind.

I suppose it's possible that she wasn't keeping a specific secret from me. With how strained our relationship was, she might not want me in her head at all anymore. I almost would have preferred some cataclysmic secret plan to that, though. At least I knew what to do in a crisis. But every time I tried to repair our friendship, I only ended up damaging it further.

"Earth to Rose!"

I shook my head and smiled. "Hey, Eddie." Whenever I had some free time I found a quiet corner and tried to force my way past Lissa's block on our bond. Unfortunately, that gave me a rather spaced out look that was starting to make people worry about me.

"You want to go beat up some noobs?"

"Dimitri made me promise to give them today off." Since I wasn't spending nearly as much time with Lissa anymore, I'd started filling my days by training with the new guardians who had just graduated from the Academy. A bruise from Rose Hathaway was a mark of pride for many of them. Some of them had a lot of pride. Dimitri always stepped in whenever he thought I was channeling a little too much of my frustration into them.

"I don't remember you getting too many days off when he was the one training you," Eddie pointed out.

I laughed. "Neither do I. Near death experiences didn't even get me out of it."

"That old Russian must be getting soft." Eddie joked.

I stood up and started stretching. "You want to go a couple rounds?"

He took a step back. "You're wound a little tight these days. I'll wait until the graduates take the edge off."

"Dimitri's not the only one getting soft," I teased him.

"Who's getting soft?" a Russian-accented voice demanded.

I turned to watch Dimitri stride towards us. "Eddie thinks he can take you now," I told him.

"I never said that!" Eddie protested.

Dimitri looked him up and down. "I'll give you a thirty second head start," he offered.

Eddie took off. I laughed as I watched him go. After thirty seconds I looked back at Dimitri. "Not going after him?"

"Looking over his shoulder the rest of the day should be punishment enough," he answered.

"A mean streak. I must be rubbing off on you."

"And here we all hoped it would work the other way around."

I laughed and started to lean into him. And then, suddenly, I got a flash from Lissa. She was in her rooms with Christian and I knew exactly what they were talking about. "Son of a bitch!" Joking with Eddie and Dimitri fled my mind in an instant. "I can't believe she'd do this!"

"Rose?" Dimitri looked down at me with concern.

"I need to go to Lissa," I announced.

He fell into step beside me. "Is she in trouble?"

"Oh, like you wouldn't believe," I told him.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

As I stormed Lissa's room, the guardian on duty made a half-hearted effort to stop me. If I hadn't been so furious, I would have found it funny that a man who willingly threw himself into the path of oncoming Strigoi scrambled to get out of my way. I hit the door like a freight train, seeing red.

"What the hell, Lissa?" I demanded. "You're releasing Tasha?"

Dimitri went very still behind me, one hand still on my elbow but no longer trying to pull me out of the room.

"Christian and I were discussing that possibility," she answered coldly.

I ignored her blatant disapproval. "She killed Tatiana. You're just going to sweep that under the rug?"

"She's Christian's aunt."

"And Tatiana was Adrian's. What's he going to think?"

"It isn't Adrian's decision. And it isn't yours either. I am the queen."

"Yeah, and she tried to kill you, too. Let's give her another shot at it, right? She's 1 for 2 right now, why not let her patch up her record?"

"Tasha isn't a threat to me, or to anyone else in my Court." I snorted, but she kept on going. "Nor is she going to be pardoned for her past crimes. She will serve out the remainder of her sentence here, while helping Christian and other Moroi with offensive magics."

"That's exactly what she's wanted all along!" I protested. "You might as well pardon her."

"It's not about what she wants, and it's not about what you want either, Rose. It's about what the Moroi need, and right now we need someone with Tasha's expertise to help us in our war against the Strigoi."

"Fighting the Strigoi is for guardians. Trained, disciplined guardians. Not Moroi who have already proven to have no control over their tempers or their impulses."

"Like you're one to lecture people on control," Lissa scoffed.

"You have no idea how much control I'm exerting this very second," I hissed at her.

"Are you threatening your queen?" she demanded.

That brought me up short. How did we come to this? What happened to being best friends? "I've never been a threat to you, Liss. Never."

"Not to my person, but you are a threat to my power."

"What is that supposed to mean? You think I'm trying to take you off the throne? I'm the one who put you on the throne."

"You are not the source of my authority, Rose. You need to stop questioning me."

"Okay, I'm sorry _Your Majesty_." I dipped a quick bow. "Now can we get back to the important discussion here?"

"You're going to have to do a bit better than that," Lissa said.

"What do you want? A formal apology in front of the Council?"

"For starters."

"Really?" Dimitri was shooting me warning looks, but I couldn't fight back my temper. "Like hell. What is wrong with you, Lissa? I am the biggest supporter you have. No one is more on your side than I am."

"Except, apparently, when I'm doing something you don't approve of."

"Being on your side doesn't mean agreeing with everything you do!" I took a deep breath and tried to backpedal. "What is it going to take to fix things between us?"

"A formal apology in front of the Council."

"Well that's not happening," I told her. "So what's the other option?"

"Guardian Hathaway, you will formally apologize for your insubordination or you will be removed from Court."

"Fine. I'm out of here." Even as I said the words, I knew I would regret them, but my temper was raging out of control. "I'll leave as soon as I make arrangements. But don't try to have me removed, Liss. It won't be pretty if you do." Turning on my heel, I stormed out of the room.

Sheer fury carried me across Court and into my apartment. By the time Dimitri caught up, I had a suitcase half-packed.

"Rose, don't go. You'll regret it if you do."

Tears were already rising in my throat as hurt battled back my anger. "I can't stay, Dimitri."

He laid his hands on my shoulders, rubbing gently. "I know things have been hard lately, with you and Lissa fighting, but you will work this out. You can't fix anything if you run away."

I turned into him. "I haven't given up hope on Lissa, it's just...I've been pushing and pushing and pushing and all I've done is make things worse. Maybe a little bit of distance is exactly what we need."

"Where are you going to go?"

"My mother." It was hard to tell which of us were more surprised by my answer. Never in my life had I run to my mother before. It suddenly seemed like the perfect time to start.

"I'll go with you," he offered immediately.

I squeezed his hand. "I'm not trying to ditch you, Comrade, but I'd feel a lot better about leaving if I knew you were here."

"Nothing will happen to Lissa," he promised. "I'll keep an eye on her."

We didn't say much more as I finished packing and made travel arrangements. Dimitri insisted on driving me to the airport. I didn't fight him very hard on that. Neither of us were looking forward to saying goodbye.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" he asked me outside airport security.

Did I want to leave Lissa on bad terms and travel halfway around the world without Dimitri and admit to my mother that I had abandoned my assignment? Hell no. But it was the right thing to do. "I have to do this," I told Dimitri. We exchanged one chaste peck, the most public display of affection his Russian dignity allowed, and then I was heading through security and towards Nepal.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

I didn't know what to expect when my plane landed. I had texted my mother my flight information and expected arrival time. In return I got _Transportation arranged._

What I didn't expect was my father. "Done with Russia, old man?"

"I got tired of the cold." He grinned at me. "I find Nepal much more...invigorating."

I made a gagging noise and desperately tried to block any mental pictures from forming.

Abe gestured for his driver to grab my luggage and steered me towards a limo. "Well, we both know what I'm doing here. What about you?"

"I'm…" I heaved a sigh, not sure what I was doing. "Is Mom not here because I abandoned my post?"

Abe let me dodge the question. "She's on duty. She'll join us for dinner tonight."

I climbed into the limo, then simply laid my head back and closed my eyes. I heard Abe speak to the driver, felt him slide onto the seat beside me. As we merged into traffic he took my hand.

"Rose, I want you to tell me who has made you so unhappy."

I opened my eyes to find him watching me seriously. "It's not Dimitri."

He took out his phone and sent a quick text. "Did you order a hit on my fiance?" I demanded.

"Not anymore," he told me. "Now who?"

I was almost afraid to tell him, but also curious to see his reaction. "Lissa. Going to take her out now?"

"I imagine you'd stake me if I tried."

"You're safe," I told him. "Couldn't get a stake through security."

He shook his head. "That won't do." He reached under the seat and pulled out a stake. "You'll feel better with this."

I gripped it in my lap, surprised to find a lump forming in my throat. "Thanks," I whispered.

Abe smiled and turned away, giving me a chance to pull myself together. We rode in silence until the limo pulled up to the curb in front of an opulent hotel.

"What are we doing here?" I asked.

"I live here," he answered. "And you'll be staying with me."

I didn't argue. I trudged into the elevator, travel fatigue catching up with me quickly. The lush suite barely registered with me as Abe steered me into a bedroom. "I'll let you get some sleep." He turned in the doorway. "Rose? Whatever's happened, it's good to see you."

I studied him for a second, surprised to find the feeling mutual. "It's good to see you too, Zmey."

Despite my physical fatigue, my mind wouldn't turn off. After several minutes of trying to will myself to sleep, I pulled my phone out and called Dimitri.

"Hello, Roza," he greeted me warmly.

"Hey, Comrade. Safe and sound in Nepal."

"Good. How is your mother?"

"I haven't seen her yet. I got picked up by my father, who is apparently living with my mother in a hotel suite."

"That sounds…cozy."

I snorted. "It sounds awkward as hell. But I'm kind of looking forward to hanging out with my parents." After a beat of silence I finally asked what I really wanted to know. "How is Lissa?"

Dimitri took a long time to answer. I started to panic on the other end of the line. What if I had upset her too much? What if she had done something terrible after I stormed out? "Why don't you check through the bond?" Dimitri finally asked.

Shit. "So you know about that, huh?"

"I've suspected for a while. You confirmed it for me today."

Right, when I stormed into Lissa's room already knowing what she and Christian were talking about. "I'm sorry."

"The Master?"

"Yeah."

"Why?"

I could have thrown this all on Lissa, as she had ordered me to keep it quiet, but I had to be honest with him. "I didn't want to worry you."

"Roza, I will worry about you every day for the rest of our lives. I'm worried about you right now."

"I'm fine." We both knew that wasn't strictly true, but he let it stand.

"When are you coming home?"

"I don't know, I guess we'll see how things go with my parents. Soon, I promise."

"If you want me to come out there-"

"I know," I cut him off. I thought about Abe's attitude towards Dimitri and wondered if having my fiancé join me would make things better or worse. "Can you believe-" I stopped myself before I told him about my father's hit. That probably wouldn't do anything to improve their relationship.

"What was that?"

"Nothing. I worry about you, too."

"I'll take care of myself if you take care of yourself."

"Deal."

"I love you, Roza."

"Love you, too, Comrade." I hung up the phone and curled up for a nap, still not sure I hadn't made a huge mistake.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

That evening, for perhaps the first time ever, we had a family dinner. It was surprisingly enjoyable, even with the awkward silences. I kept expecting my mother to start interrogating me, but she didn't. In fact, other than inquiring about my flight and wanting to know what the newest batch of graduates looked like, she didn't ask any questions at all. She and Abe filled the conversation in with chatter about their days. I hadn't known my mother could chatter. It was nice to sit there and let their voices flow around me.

Of course, it couldn't last. After dinner Abe disappeared while my mother pulled me down onto the sofa. "Your father and I are happy to see you, Rose, but I know you didn't just decide to visit. What brings you here?"

"I didn't know where else to go," I admitted.

"I know I haven't been much of a mother, but I'm glad you came here. You can always come. But why couldn't you stay at Court?"

"Lissa and I fought. All we do these days is fight. But it got really ugly this time."

"I know it probably won't make you feel better, but it's normal to have fights. You and Lissa have always been unnaturally in sync with each other. Now that the bond's gone, there's going to be some readjusting."

I almost told her the bond was back, but bit my tongue just in time. Instead, I switched the subject. "She wants to bring Tasha Ozera to Court to help the Moroi learn how to fight with magic."

"But she shot you!"

Hearing the outrage in my mother's voice gave me a considerable boost. "Exactly! And when I called her out on it, she started in on how I needed to stop questioning her authority."

My mother sighed. "I was afraid of this."

"Of what?"

"Rose, I don't think you've ever understood how unusual your relationship with Lissa was, even before you were bonded. The Dragomirs practically adopted you. I had my misgivings about it, but you seemed so happy, and after the accident I couldn't separate you two. But you're not equals, even if you were raised together. Lissa is Moroi royalty, and you're her guardian."

"She comes first, I know that. I think I've pretty thoroughly demonstrated how far I'm willing to go to protect her."

"To protect her, yes, but it's also your job to support her. In private you can argue as much as you like, but in public, a guardian has to back up her charge, no matter what. Especially you."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"I know you've never liked politics, Rose, but you really have to start paying more attention to them. People say they might as well have crowned you as Lissa. Everyone knows you played a large role in making her queen. Many of them believe that you are the real power behind the throne. Every time you challenge her, and especially when you win, you prove them right."

"Lissa is more than capable of ruling, with or without me."

"Do you really believe that?"

"Of course I do!"

"Then you need to start treating her like your ruler."

I drummed my fingers unhappily on the arm of the chair. "My attitude isn't the problem."

My mother gave me an arch look. "Isn't it?"

"No! Okay, I lost my temper with Lissa. But she's the one who's questioning me all of a sudden. Acting like I'm not on her side. When have I ever not been on her side?"

"Rose, do you honestly believe Lissa has doubts about your loyalty?"

"Yes, I do."

"And why do you think that?"

"Because she said as much, right to my face! She told me I was a threat to her power."

"What did I just say about politics? You are a threat to her power, and the more you ignore the problem, the bigger a threat you become."

"So you agree with Lissa." I was beginning to think that running to my mother had been a very bad idea.

"I don't think that you mean to threaten Lissa's position, and I doubt she thinks so either. I believe that she's only repeating what other people are saying. I would be shocked if Lissa really felt that you were challenging her. But as long as others, particularly other Council members, see it that way, then it doesn't matter if it's true or not. It makes her look weak to them, and that is one thing she cannot be."

"Lissa isn't weak."

"Then help her convince everyone else of that. When you balk at her orders, it only reinforces what people already believe, that she doesn't really have the authority to command."

"In my defense," I pointed out, "I don't take orders well from anyone, not just Lissa."

"I think your issues with authority are well documented at this point, Rose. But just think how much more impact it would have then for people to see Lissa as someone you're willing to submit to."

"I just don't think I should have to submit to my best friend," I admitted.

"Lissa isn't just your best friend anymore. She's your queen, now. Can you accept that?"


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five

My mother's question haunted me through the next several days. As much as I believed that Lissa could rule, I had to admit that I didn't like the thought of her ruling me.

"Rose, I have to go back to work today."

I looked up from my breakfast to Abe. "I thought you had minions to do all your work for you."

"Yes, but someone has to keep the minions in line. There's a car at your disposal and you have access to my line of credit. Feel free to do whatever you would like today."

"Can I come with you?" It was hard to tell which of us was more surprised by my question.

"Do you really want to?" Behind the shock on his face was something strangely vulnerable.

"Yeah, I'd like to see how the Snake spends his days. As long as I don't have to arrest you for anything."

"I don't believe you actually have the authority to do that," he said as he led the way to the elevator.

"Since when have I let that stop me?" I frowned as my own joke reminded me of my troubles with Lissa.

Abe cocked his head at me. "Is there a problem?"

"I don't know what I'm going to do about Lissa."

"Whatever is going on, you'll figure it out."

"Mom didn't tell you?"

"We respect your privacy, Rose. What you tell her remains between you two."

After a moment's thought, I decided I wanted his take on the situation. "Lissa wants me to make a formal apology in front of the Court for insubordination. Apparently some people think she's just my puppet and this is supposed to set them straight."

"I can see why you'd be reluctant to do that."

Something in his voice tipped me off. "But you think I should?"

He shrugged. "I think you have to, if you want to stay with Lissa."

I scowled. "I thought you'd be on my side."

"I'm always on your side, Rose. But if you want to play their game, then you have to follow their rules."

"What other option do I have?" I asked.

He opened the limo door and stepped back. "Come see for yourself."

Wondering just what I was getting into, I climbed into the car.

As we pulled away from the curb, I glanced up toward the driver. "Don't you have to tell him where we're going?"

Abe waved that way. "Ivan knows my schedule better than I do. He'll get me where I need to go."

I frowned. "That's awfully trusting of you."

"I don't keep people I can't trust. I think you'll find I have a very loyal workforce at my disposal."

That made me scoff. "Because you buy their loyalty."

"I pay well, that's true enough." He cocked his head at me. "What is it that you think I do?"

"I don't know." The truth was, I tried not to think too hard about it, because I was pretty sure I wasn't going to approve. I was already regretting my decision to tag along, but backing out of anything was not exactly my style. "Whatever you want."

He laughed. "As much as possible. It's a powerful man's prerogative. And do you know what my power is?"

That was an easy one. "Money."

"Eh, money always works. But it's such a common currency. I prefer to deal in more specialized items."

I was clearly supposed to guess what those items were, but I didn't have a clue. At my blank look, Abe sighed. "Secrets and favors, Rose. That's what moves this world around."

"Blackmail."

Abe shrugged. "Sometimes. But as you are finding out for yourself, there are bad people in this world; and you can't always just walk up and stake them in the chest."

Wasn't that the truth. "Some would say you're one of those bad people."

"It's all a matter of perspective. I do what is necessary to protect what matters to me."

"So now you're going to claim that you have some altruistic motivation for everything that you do?"

"Oh goodness no. How boring would that be? I dabble in all sorts of things. Sometimes because it's profitable. Sometimes just for fun, which can't be overstated."

I shook my head. "You Moroi, thinking life is all a big game. Not everyone can make decisions based on what sounds like the most fun."

He didn't take offense at my outburst. "You dhampir, thinking life is all duty and sacrifice. Where has that gotten you, except exiled from your home?"

"Lissa didn't send me away." She totally did. "I left because I needed some time to think things through."

"Take as much time as you need, but think about this. You've had a hard life, but it's only beginning. You don't have to go back if you don't want to."

We were pulling up in front of an office building. "And this is what I could do instead?"

Abe stepped out of the car and offered me a hand. "If you'd like. I think you'll find it very intriguing."

We walked inside to lots of respectful nods and "sirs." I'm pretty sure one guy bowed. "The minions certainly look happy to see you." I muttered.

"Why shouldn't they be? I treat my people well, so long as they deserve it."

He threw open the inner doors and we stepped into a room full of people on computers. I couldn't tell what they were working on. "Nigerian prince scams? Embezzling? Identity theft?"

"Why do you assume it's illegal?"

"Because it's you?"

"I'll have you know that I have numerous completely legal interests. As it turns out, this isn't one of them. These are my hackers."

"Who are they hacking?"

He smiled at me. "Everyone."

I strolled up and down the rows of computers, taking a look at all the monitors. None of them meant anything to me. Then I stopped looking at the data and started scanning the names of the files beside each operator. "These are the royal houses."

"No one needs watching more."

This was beyond illegal, but I had to admit that he was right. "Anything interesting?"

"There always is. Nothing urgent at the moment, but everyone has secrets."

"Lissa?"

"Her Majesty is a distressingly open book. Once you're back in her good graces you really should talk to her about cyber security."

I made a noncommittal noise, continuing my slow stroll. "Tarasov?" I stopped beside one screen in shock.

"We like to monitor communications going through them, official and not. At the moment, we're particularly keen to intercept any information regarding Tasha Ozera."

"Zmey, you can't kill her if she gets released, or transferred, or whatever they're calling it."

"Rose, I think you'll find there's very little I can't do." A chill ran up my spine as I caught a glimpse of the Snake as the rest of the world saw him, rather than the well-intentioned father he always acted around me.

I didn't know how to handle him when he was like this. So I glanced down at the next file and changed the subject. "Selzky? They're some of Lissa's strongest supporters in Court."

"All the more reason to keep an eye on them. There's something strange going on there."

"What?" I picked up the folder and started flipping through it.

"I'm not sure, yet. But things aren't adding up."

I found a page full of numbers and realized he meant that literally. Looking back up, I found him watching me closely. "You want me to look into it."

He shrugged. "Only if you want to. You need something to do with yourself, and you haven't shown much interest in exploring the city."

Play tourist or dig into shady business that might affect Lissa? Hmm, tough call. "I might need some help figuring out what all these reports are."

"My minions are your minions." He snapped his fingers and instantly had the attention of every person in the room. "My daughter is going to be working with us for a little while. You will provide her with everything she needs, or you will answer to me."

A chorus of crisp agreement broke out before the patter of keys took back over. I tapped the file against my palm. "How much trouble would be in if I was caught with this information?"

"We have contingencies in place for that."

I was sure he did. "And Mom?"

"Knows that she is happier not knowing."

I had a feeling I would be too, but I hadn't inherited my mother's restraint. I tapped the woman in front of my on her shoulder. She turned from her monitor. "Yes, miss?"

"What's your name?"

"Bianca, miss."

"Rose is fine." I looked around. "Could I get a ch-" Before I finished my request, someone was sliding a chair under me. "Thanks." I opened the folder. "Okay, Bianca. Walk me through this."


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six

"The Szelskys are losing money like crazy. They've reported business losses for three out of the last five quarters."

"I didn't realize you'd taken an interest in business," my mother said.

I froze over my dinner conversation, looking to Abe for help. He smiled and shoved a large bite of food into his mouth. "Oh, you know, just trying to bond with dear old dad."

He choked and started pounding on his chest. Mom didn't spare him a glance. "Be careful, Rose."

"No one would dare lay a finger on Zmey's daughter."

"That's not what I'm afraid of."

"Then what? Scared your daughter is going to turn into a mafia princess?" I joked.

She didn't laugh. "Something like that. Make sure you don't go so far down one road you forget your way back."

"I know my way back," I assured her. "If I want to go."

"And if you don't want to?" Abe asked.

His question hung heavy in the air for a beat of silence. "I don't know what I want right now," I finally said, "except to figure out what's going on with the Szelsky family."

"Sounds like poor business decisions," Mom said. "Unfortunate for them, but of little interest to you, I would think."

"That's the thing; they haven't been making poor decisions. The way Bianca explained it to me, there's no reason for them to be reporting losses."

"Embezzling or smuggling are the most likely answers," Abe suggested.

"Why wouldn't there be a report of that?"

"What are they going to do, take it to the police? We don't exactly rely on the human authorities for help."

Something in his words started jiggling a thought loose, but then he kept talking and it slipped away from me. "And many people feel that admitting they've been breached shows weakness. They'd rather keep it quiet and sort it out for themselves."

"We haven't found any records of an internal investigation either," I pointed out.

"And I haven't heard anything about one."

I froze, somehow having overlooked the fact that my mother was in the Szelsky household every day. "Mom, I don't mean to-"

"Look all you want, Rose. Mr. Szelsky has always been a very good employer to me. I don't expect you to find anything that implicates him, even if his family is involved in illegal activities."

"Our family is involved in illegal activities," I pointed out.

"Some of this family is," my mother agreed. We were both very careful to not look at Abe. "Do you really want to become part of that?"

It would hardly be the first time I smudged the line, though it did feel like I kept creeping farther and farther over it. Still, my curiosity was roused now, and I had never been very good at living without answers. "I'm just looking," I said, "and I haven't even found anything yet."

My father smiled at me. "Look harder."

That night I started to go over my day with Dimitri, pleased to have more to report than lying around my father's suite all day. But things went downhill quickly.

"You're investigating the Szelsky family?" he asked.

I drew to a stuttering halt. "Sort of. Informally. I'm just looking into a few things."

"Does your mother know?"

"I told her. She's okay with it." Ish. That might not have been an outright lie, but it was stretching the truth awfully thin.

"I'm not sure that I'm okay with it," Dimitri said. "How did you even get this information?"

"I…don't know if I should tell you that," I admitted. "Plausible deniability and all." I'm not sure my father's contingencies plans would protect Dimitri, considering how willing Abe was to order a hit on my fiancé.

"You're on dangerous ground, Rose," Dimitri warned me. "Investigating Moroi royalty may be too ambitious, even for you."

"Why shouldn't they be investigated?" My frustration began to bubble over. "Why should they be above the rules? And why can't a dhampir hold a Moroi accountable?"

"Lissa's fine, by the way."

"I didn't mean her." But of course, I had. "Aren't you tired of being second-class?"

"I've never considered myself second-class. And I've never let the ugly opinions of small-minded people affect that."

"Well then you're a better person than me. But we knew that already."

Dimitri chuckled and I felt some of my tension diffuse. "You are a good person, Rose. I don't want you to forget that while you're dabbling in your father's business."

"Don't worry, my mother keeps reminding me." It didn't come easily, but I made my offer. "Do you want me to stop investigating the Szelskys?"

"I think letting go of this now would kill you and no, I don't want that."

"Aw, you know me so well."

"I want you to be careful."

"Maybe not so well as I thought."

"Rose, I'm serious."

"I know. I'll be careful, I promise. My father won't let anything bad happen to me and my mother won't let him corrupt me. So really, what could go wrong?"

"Do you want me to answer that?"

"Please don't." I stifled a yawn. "Sorry, Comrade, I'm falling asleep here."

"I wish you were falling asleep here."

"I know, me too."

"Then come home."

"I will, soon."

"Soon. Exactly when is that?"

"It's…I don't know. When I figure out what's going on with the Szelskys."

"Very well." There was no ignoring the displeasure in his voice, but he didn't give me the chance to say anything about it. "I love you, Roza."

"Love you too, Comrade." I barely got the words out before he hung up.

It took me a long time to get to sleep that night.


	7. Chapter 7

My days fell into a pattern, going to work with Abe in the morning, spending the afternoons with Bianca, and finally training with my mother in the evenings. It was strangely comfortable, living like a family with my parents.

I devoted most of my time to the Szelsky file. The longer it took Bianca and me to get to the bottom of things, the more convinced I became that there was something off. But I still couldn't find it.

"They're reporting business losses that don't really exist," I started to run through the whole thing, again, while Abe and I waited for our lunch. He had to be tired of hearing it by now - I certainly was - but he never stopped me. "Smuggling, blackmail, or embezzling are the most likely options."

"The money is going somewhere," Abe agreed.

I sat up a little straighter. "What if they know exactly where it's going?"

Abe shrugged. "If they are being blackmailed and they know the identity of the blackmailer-"

"No, what if they have the money, but they don't want anyone to know?"

Abe sat back. "That's an interesting option. There are different reasons for hiding income, mostly tax purposes. But you typically don't have to dig as deep as you have to find the real books."

"Real books?" I asked.

"Sure, you have to track your own money, even if you don't want anyone else to know about it. If they are falsifying data, they should have an accurate record for their own use."

I was distracted from my own brainstorm by a man getting up from the next table. "There's a dhampir behind you," I said.

Abe didn't look concerned. "I've heard a rumor that they do exist." He leaned in to me. "Why you could even be sitting at a table with one."

"One of us is," I joked back, but I still kept an eye on the other dhampir. Something about the way he was moving made me think a fight was about to break out.

He reached into his jacket and I sprang to my feet. My mind still hadn't caught up with what was happening, but my body was already reacting. As he pulled out a knife, I was leaping over the table. In a move I'd practiced a thousand times, I reached out and grabbed the weapon, intercepting it inches before it would have plunged into my father's back.

Unfortunately, I was used to grappling with stakes, which were safely rounded on all sides except the point. The knife blade bit deep into my palm. I knew that if I didn't let go, I risked doing permanent damage to my fingers. If I did let go, I'd do permanent damage to my father.

In just a few heartbeats, though it felt much longer, Abe's security men were there, pulling the man to the ground. I cradled my hand to my chest, protesting as Abe pulled it out to wrap his silk handkerchief around it.

"Zmey, blood stains-"

"Blood stains be damned," he snapped. "Clean this up," he snarled at his men. "I'm taking my daughter to the hospital." Tucking me under his arm, he hustled me to the door.

My sophisticated father was practically incoherent as we peeled away from the curb. "Of all the gross incompetence- I am firing every single one of those men."

"It's just a scratch, Abe." It wasn't, really, but my primary concern at the moment was calming him down before he started taking his anger out on someone else.

"Their job is to prevent us from getting scratched."

"And they're pretty good at it. Maybe they could use a little more discipline, a more regular training schedule-"

"Do you want the job?"

I laughed. "As what? Your head of security?"

"For starters," he shrugged. "I wouldn't mind handing the reins to the whole operation over to you someday. But for now, security is what you know, and you're very good at it. You just saved my life, Rose."

"It's a habit," I joked.

"One that I'm grateful for. And one that could net you a much better paycheck than you're currently making."

"I'm happy with my current pay." It was pennies compared to what Abe had, of course, but it met all my needs and that had been my only concern.

"It's not your pay that is making you unhappy now." I started to speak, but the car was stopping. "Don't answer now," he told me. "Think about it. For now, we need to get you fixed up."

I looked at the building we were in front of. "This isn't a hospital."

"It's my version of a hospital."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"It means it's usually in our best interest to keep humans out of our business. So I like to take care of any incidents with my own people."

"Have your own people been to medical school?" I asked.

"Not exactly."

"Would you please stop answering all of my questions so cryptically? It's creeping me out."

"You're in good hands, Rose, I promise. You'll walk out of here without a mark on you."

I still wasn't sure what he meant, but I was learning that my father always had my best interests in mind. Figuring I'd get my answers quicker if I just looked for myself, I followed him into the apartment building. We went into the elevator and he pressed the button for the penthouse.

"Fancy." I wiggled my eyebrows. "Working for you pays well."

"She earns it. As will you."

"We'll see". I didn't want to admit how tempting I found his offer. The money really didn't mean that much to me, but I had to admit I would enjoy the freedom running my father's organization would give me. Of course, the offer became significantly less tempting when I considered what exactly that organization did.

"You could reorganize it."

I frowned at Abe. "Did I say that out loud?"

"You didn't have to. You might have a reputation for being a loose canon, but you definitely inherited your mother's unyielding morals."

"I feel like I've done a lot of yielding lately."

"I'm not sure Vasalisa would agree with you. And you don't have to yield when you're the one in charge. Instead, you could make changes to my interests. You could do a lot of good with my resources."

I had thought the same, but I didn't want to discuss it with him right now. I was grateful when the elevator stopped and opened. "First aid now, job offers later."

"Fair enough." He led the way down the short hallway and knocked on the door. "Marie, I need you."

The door opened almost immediately. "Yes sir, Ivan called ahead." A tiny woman with a heavy French accent held her hand out for mine.

Stepping in, I placed my palm in hers. Abe stepped in behind me and closed the door.

Marie took a brief glance at the slice on my hand. "This is deep, but it's a clean slice. And you have been healed before, of course."

"Healed-" before I could finish, I felt a familiar warm tingling in my hand. I held my breath and watched as the skin tied itself back together. Marie released my hand and I shook the lingering tingles out of it.

"You're a spirit user." I spoke to her, but I was glaring at Abe.

He shrugged. "She's useful to have around."

"Yeah, she'd be very useful for Lissa to have around."

"That is for Marie to decide. She appreciates her anonymity."

It was hard for me to argue with that. I wasn't thrilled with having my every move examined by the entire Moroi world. I decided to let it go, for now. "And I appreciate the healing."

Marie smiled at me. "My pleasure. It's what Abe pays me for. Among other things."

The other things were what I didn't want to think about.

"Enjoy your evening, Marie. I want to get my daughter home now."

"I'm all headed, Abe. No need to get me home and tuck me up in bed."

"You may not need it, but I do."

I think I could get tired of too much fatherly concern before long, but for right now, it felt pretty good. I let him bundle me into the car and toward home. 


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter Eight

I wasn't sure what Abe's policy was on telling my mom about stuff like this, but halfway through dinner I couldn't keep it in any longer.

"Abe has a Spirit user on his payroll." I was still working through that, trying to decide if I wanted to talk to her about coming out into the open or just leave her to her quiet life of…whatever Abe had her doing.

"Yes, I know. He keeps her on hand so that we don't have to bother the human doctors every time someone gets hurt-" Her gaze snapped over to Abe. "Who got hurt?"

A tense silence fell over the table. "You know I am not a popular man, Janine."

"Your popularity at this table is falling quickly, Ibrahim. Answer the question."

"An irate man approached me at lunch today."

"That's why you have security."

"I don't need security. I just need our daughter."

My mom laid her hands on the table and took a deep breath. "Will someone please just tell me who needed Marie today?"

"I did." It was at least comforting to know that I wasn't the only one who couldn't get a straight answer out of Abe. "But it wasn't serious. Just a cut on my hand."

"You couldn't disarm a human without getting injured?"

"First off, he was a dhampir. Second, disarming him was the problem."

"A dhampir? Why was a dhampir after you?"

Abe cleared his throat. "Janine, remember the deal we made."

"I didn't make a deal," I said.

Both of my parents ignored me. They seemed to say a great deal without saying anything before my mom finally sighed. "All right, Rose, why don't you tell me what went wrong with disarming this man?"

"Nothing went wrong. I did exactly what I had been taught at St. Vlad's. But he had a knife."

"You grabbed the blade," my mom guessed. "You're supposed to grab the wrist if you can't grab the weapon!"

"I'm trained to fight with stakes! Grabbing the weapon has never been a problem for me."

"Well then we'd better train you a little better." She grabbed my arm and started dragging me away from the table.

"Can I finish eating first?" I asked.

"You can't train on a full stomach."

"Janine, she's had a hard day," Abe spoke up.

"And if you want tomorrow to be easier, she has to practice." Like a force of nature, she plowed through our protests as she hauled me to our training area.

Now that we weren't fighting all the time, I actually enjoyed sparring with my mother. I never had to worry about her holding back, like I sometimes suspected Dimitri did, but she was a real challenge for me, unlike the new graduates I had been training. We were extremely well-matched, and I wasn't too proud to admit that practicing with her had made me a better fighter.

With that being said, my mother was ruthless. She wasn't satisfied until I did something perfectly, and even then wanted to see it one more time. This new maneuver was no exception. She kept coming at me with a stake, demanding that I disarm her without grabbing the weapon. It wasn't that difficult of a task, but my body had been trained to move in a certain way, and it was not changing easily.

"Better, Rose. I think you only sliced off three fingers that time."

"Stop being so dramatic." That was not something I ever thought I would have to tell my mother. "I messed this up today, but look," I waved my hand, "all five still attached."

"Thanks to Marie."

"She didn't have to reattach anything." I wasn't sure if she actually could do that, but either way I'd rather not put her to the test.

"Not this time. Who knows about next time?"

"What makes you assume there will be a next time? Fending off knife-wielding maniacs is not a daily routine for me."

"Look at your track record. Of course there is going to be a next time."

I didn't want to admit that she was right, but there really wasn't anything I could say to that. "Sometimes I hate my track record," I grumbled.

My mother cocked her head at me. "Do you really?"

I shrugged. "Kind of. I mean, Dimitri and I could have a very nice life with his family. But I tried the quiet life. And I hated it."

"Rose, do you remember when Court tried to make guardian service mandatory?"

Thinking about it made me scowl. "It's not exactly something you forget."

"You fought against it because everyone should be free to decide for themselves if they want to fight. Thanks to you and Lissa, dhampirs can still choose not to be guardians. But we can also choose to be on active duty. If you don't blame people for wanting the quiet life, why should you blame yourself for not wanting it?"

"Because what if Dimitri wants that nice quiet life with his family and I'm keeping him away from it?"

My mom laughed. "Rose, Dimitri was a guardian long before he met you, and a damn good one. And though he may bend over backwards to make you happy, he's no pushover either. You do not control everyone's fate."

"That's good. I can't even control my own."

In a rare display of affection, she tucked some loose hair behind my ear. "You're so young sometimes. No one controls their own fate. Look at me. I could have had that nice quiet life you're talking about, and instead I went back to active service. I walked away from Ibrahim, I gave you up to the Academy. And here I am, back together with your father, back together with you. And still on active service."

"So what am I supposed to do?" I asked her.

"You're supposed to do what you think is right," she answered. "If you do that, things have a way of working out in the end."

"Not in my experience," I told her.

"That's not true. You left school with Lissa because it was the right thing to do, and by doing that you saved her from Victor. You went hunting for Dimitri because you made a promise to him and you ended up proving that Strigoi could be restored. You-"

"I stood up to Lissa and ended up getting kicked out of Court."

"So what's next? What do you think is right?"

The answer was becoming clearer to me, but I wasn't quite ready to admit it yet. "Right now, the right thing to do is go to bed."

My mom didn't press it. "All right, sleep well. We'll practice this more tomorrow."


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter Nine

"I was serious, you know."

I marked my place in the Szelsky file and looked up at my father. I was pretty convinced that I was right about the Szelskys reporting false losses in order to hide what they were doing with their money. Unfortunately, I was no closer to figuring out what they were hiding. "Serious about what?"

"Working for me. Officially."

My mother started to talk, but Abe shook his head. "Let Rose speak."

"Abe…" Much to my own surprise, I wasn't completely thrown by the idea. "I've been enjoying this time, more than I ever thought I would. But I haven't resolved anything at Court. I can't leave things the way I did."

"What about the way you left Dimitri?" My mother asked.

"I didn't leave Dimitri." At least, not in any way except geographically. "He understands what I'm doing."

Okay, that was stretching things a bit. He understood why I had left and he was happy that I was bonding with my parents, but he wasn't comfortable with my investigation into the Szelskys. Not that I could blame him.

Our phone conversations were getting briefer and briefer, which was preferable to the long, awkward silences that had also begun to creep in. He didn't volunteer much information about Lissa and I was too stubborn to ask. He'd also stopped asking when I was coming home, which I recognized as a bad sign, but I was too much of a coward to bring it up. If I chose to stay here, a surprisingly tempting option, I wasn't sure what that would mean for us.

My father was still watching me expectantly. "I've tried retiring to the quiet life, and that didn't work for me," I told him.

"I think you've already discovered that working with me can hardly be considered a quiet life."

"True, but...it's not exactly fighting the good fight either."

"It could be. Look what you're doing with the Szelskys. You're uncovering corruption."

"I haven't uncovered anything yet. And what would I uncover if I started investigating you?"

He smiled at me. "Nothing that I didn't want you to find."

That hardly inspired confidence. Before I could tell him that, though, his phone rang and he excused himself from the room.

"How seriously are you considering staying?" my mother asked.

"I don't know," I told her. "Abe has a lot of good points. I'd make more money, have more power, have the authority to use his resources for good, but…"

"Go on, finish out the other half of it."

"Well, isn't it more likely that I end up making excuses and crossing lines than reforming Abe? I'll end up just as corrupt as the Szelskys if I go down this road. And Dimitri wouldn't like it. I don't know how, or even if, we'd manage to work that out. And down at the core I just can't shake the belief that I belong with Lissa. But is that what I truly believe, or is that just what I've been taught to accept?"

"A lot of good points on both sides. But you don't have to rush anything. Take as long as you need to decide, no matter how much anyone, including your father, tries to pressure you."

I sighed. "Can't you just tell me what to do?"

She shook her head. "You have to decide for yourself what's right."

I studied her face. "But you've already decided what you think."

"I have my opinion," she admitted.

"So tell me what it is!" I demanded.

She still refused. "It's your choice, Rose. And what's right for me may not be right for you. Is it right for me to be with Ibrahim?"

"Oh, bad pictures," I groaned, pressing my hands over my face.

Mom laughed, but she quickly turned serious again. "I don't know everything your father is involved in, but I know I wouldn't approve of most of it. And yet I've accepted this deal with him where we just pretend that his business is legitimate. I don't ask and he doesn't tell. Is it right? I don't know. But it works for us."

I could see for myself that it did. But I was pretty sure it would never work for Dimitri and me.

That thought haunted me during our phone call that night. By the time I edited out everything I wasn't sure I should tell him, I mostly sat silent while he told me about the latest batch of recruits.

"Abe offered me a job." I finally blurted it out, cutting Dimitri off in mid-sentence.

Stunned silence came across the line. "A job?" he finally asked.

"Yeah, head of security. He could use somebody better there. There was…an incident the other day. I kind of saved Abe's life, I guess. He now wants me to train all of his security guys and maybe take over the whole operation someday."

"Is that what you want?"

"I don't know. I've never even considered being anything other than a guardian, Lissa's guardian. I guess I just like knowing that I have options."

"How long before you have to choose one of these options?"

"There's no rush, really. I've already been putting him off for several days-"

"Days? When did he make this offer?"

I squirmed, beginning to wish I'd stuck to my heavily-edited silence. "A little while ago."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"I don't know. It just seemed…I didn't want to worry you. I mean, even if I wanted to take it – and I'm not sure I do – what does that mean for us? Are you going to get transferred to a post over here? Work with my mother? Take a job with Zmey and work for the guy who put a hit out on you?"

"A hit?"

"Oh yeah, that happened the day I got here. Don't worry, I cleared it up."

"Thanks," he said very flatly. After a heavy beat of silence, he sighed. "How seriously are you considering this, Roza?"

"I didn't think I was, but then…I love Lissa and the only thing I ever wanted was to be her guardian. But you know how miserable I was, even before that last fight. I miss Lissa like a limb sometimes, but I can be in the same room as her now and still feel that way. I can't go back to fighting with her all the time, and I don't know how to fix everything that went wrong between us."

"Talk to her."

"That'll probably just be another fight. And anyways-"

"Rose, stop. You always have plenty of ways to justify not talking to people. You don't tell me that your father tried to assassinate me, don't tell me that you were involved in an incident, don't tell me you're considering switching careers. You don't tell Lissa anything anymore. You do not have to solve everyone's problems all by yourself and you completely ignore the programs you create by keeping secrets. It has to stop. You can talk to me, about anything. And if you want to fix things with Lissa, you have to start by talking to her."

"So this is my fault."

"No, it's both of your faults. You're both so determined to be the one that fixes things for the other, you've forgotten that what got you this far was the fact that you were a team. If you want to move forward from here, you have to get back to that."

I could feel a tendril of resentment rising as he lectured me, but underneath that, a more mature part of myself knew that he was right. "So I guess this means you don't want me to take Abe's job."

"If that's what you really want, Rose, we'll make it work somehow. But first you have to promise me two things."

"I promise."

"No, hear me out first. I don't want you to promise unless you actually mean it."

"Okay."

"First, you have to promise me that you won't keep me in the dark about this. If you end up staying over there, we'll figure something out, but we'll do it together. Agreed?"

"Agreed." It went against my nature, but he was right. I had to stop making decisions for everyone else just because I thought I knew what was best for them.

"Second, don't agree to anything with Abe until you've had a real conversation with Lissa."

"What if she won't talk to me?"

"Then you make her listen."

I frowned. "That sounds an awful lot like what started this problem."

"What started this problem is both of you keeping secrets because you think you're protecting each other."

"What secrets is Lissa keeping?"

"Call her and find out."

"Dimitri-"

"I love you, Roza."

I scowled at my phone after he hung up on me. I was tempted to call him back and demand answers, but I knew that would be wasted effort. Anyone who thought I was the stubborn one in our relationship had clearly never seen Dimitri dig his heels in.

My other option was to call Lissa, but I couldn't do it. Other people might call it pride, or maybe that stubbornness again, but I actually thought I was right this time. A phone call was no way to handle this mess between us. I didn't know if I was going to stay or not, but I definitely needed to take at least one more trip back to Court before I could give Abe an answer.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

I slid into the car with Abe at the end of a long day, frustrating nagging me. I had no idea what the Szelskys were doing with their money or how to find out. Of course, if I spent more time investigating and less time mulling over my own personal dilemma, I might make more progress.

"Rose, I never should have offered you a job." Abe's sudden announcement broke me out of my own thoughts about my future, bringing me back to the present.

"Are you firing me?"

"I never hired you. And I won't."

"Mom talked to you."

"She did. And she made some good points. You'd never consider my offer under better circumstances."

"Maybe not, but circumstances are what they are. Why shouldn't I consider other options?"

"Because I'm not offering you a solution to your problems. I'm offering you a way out, and that's tempting, but it's just running away."

"What's wrong with that?"

"That's not who you are, Rose. You've never run from anything before in your life."

"This might be a good time to start."

"You'll regret it if you do. You don't belong in my world."

"I'm not a baby now, Abe. I can handle the danger."

"It's not about the danger. It's about…I exist in the gray, Rose, taking advantage of the shades between right and wrong. You weren't born for the gray."

"Because I've inherited Mom's unyielding morals?"

Abe nodded. "You are your mother's daughter."

"But Mom's pretty cozied up with you in the gray now, isn't she?"

"Your mother and I are walking a fine line right now. We're still figuring out our steps. But she does hold me in check, Rose. I might never be a good man, but I certainly am a better one than I used to be. And she's the biggest reason why."

Leaving out the sickening sappiness of it, he made good sense. "It still means accepting Lissa's terms."

He shrugged. "She is the queen."

* * *

I recapped our conversation that evening while sparring with my mother. Surprisingly, she wasn't happy with the news.

"That man messes everything up!"

I cocked my head while dancing away from her attack. "I thought you wanted me to go back to Lissa."

"I wanted to you to clear things up, and yes, I'd hoped you'd return to your guardian duties. But I wanted you to make your own decision."

"Well he hasn't kicked me out. I do have to go to Court to at least talk things out with Lissa. But just because there isn't a job offer on the table doesn't mean I can't come back."

"Of course you can come back. And you just cut your fingers off again."

With a glance I saw that I had wrapped my hand around the stake she was holding. With a hiss of frustration, I grabbed her wrist and rotated my trunk, flipping her over my hip and forcing her to open her hand. "How's that for disarming you?"

She rolled to her feet smoothly and fended me off with three quick jabs. "I don't need a weapon to take you."

With a laugh I sprang towards her, glad to have had this time with my parents, even if it was drawing to a close. As my mother and I exchanged a flurry of blows, a sudden shout in my head distracted me.

_Rose!_

"Lissa?" Surprised by a call I hadn't heard in weeks, I automatically started to look at what was happening in her head. A sudden, staggering pain in my face brought me back to my reality.

"Did you just punch me in the face?" I demanded.

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to-"

"This is the second time you've done this to me!"

"It was an accident the first time, too."

"Do you know how many people manage to make it their whole lives without accidentally punching their daughter in the face?"

"It's not entirely my fault. You can't just drop your guard like that in the middle of a match. Why did you?"

"Lissa called-" I caught myself, but too late.

"I didn't hear a phone-" suddenly my mother caught on. "Through the bond."

"Yeah. Lissa and I are bonded. Again."

"So you died, again. When?"

Abe appeared in the doorway. "What's all the yelling about?"

"Our daughter was about to tell me how she and Lissa came to be bonded again."

I decided the situation called for some good old fashioned Rose Hathaway bravado. "You remember when I killed the Master? It was sort of a mutual killing thing."

"That was months ago!"

"I don't see what the big deal is," I told them. "I came back."

"You can't keep doing this, Rose," my mother said.

"Do you want me to stay dead next time?"

"Of course not! I want you to stop dying!"

"I can't help it! When Lissa's in trouble, I have to get her out of it."

"By all means! What's the big emergency this time?"

"If you'd stop yelling at me, maybe I could figure it out!"

Abe put a hand on my mother's shoulder, drawing her back a few steps. "Take a look at Court, see what's going on."

Though I hadn't done it in weeks, I slipped into Lissa's thoughts as easily as ever. Figuring out what was happening was a little trickier, because Lissa herself wasn't sure. A group of heavily-armed humans had stormed into Court, claiming that they were there for the good of the Moroi world, as well as the human world.

"The Alchemists exist to keep the balance between humans and the supernatural. When that balance is threatened, it is our duty to step in."

Lissa remained on her throne, hoping she looked in control, because she felt like panicking. "The Alchemists are welcome at Court by invitation only."

"And we have been invited. When the threat comes from the ruling monarch, any member of the Council can request intervention. I think you'll find that we are required to shut your Court down until we finish our investigation."

"What exactly is it that you're investigating?" Lissa demanded.

"Whether your own long-term use of Spirit has made you unfit to be queen. Your outbursts have been known to threaten the exposure of magic. If we find the accusations credible, we'll have to remove you from the throne."

"That is not your decision," Lissa snapped.

"Those are the exact terms of the deal struck with us when we agreed to help keep your secrets. Do not blame us if you don't know your own history."

Nathan gestured to the humans carrying swords as well as guns. "Those aren't Alchemists. I recognize a Warrior of the Light when I see one."

"How very perceptive of you. The Warriors of Light did split away from us for a time, but we've reconciled our differences."

"One big happy family again," Christian muttered under his breath.

"You claim to have been invited. By whom?" Dimitri demanded.

"We aren't required to reveal our source. But we have friends here." With a sharp gesture, the leader gestured some of his followers forward. "Contain the queen in her rooms. Alone."

Both Dimitri and Christian stepped up, and I expected to see someone combust, but Lissa waved them off. "I'll go, for now. There's no need for anyone to get hurt"

The Alchemist smiled at her. "Precisely, your majesty. I'm glad you're being reasonable."

Lissa leaned into Dimitri as she turned to go, whispering urgently, "Find out who betrayed us."

I snapped back into my own mind, wishing more than ever that our bond worked both ways. "Zmey, plane."

"Already on the way," he assured me.

"What's going on?" my mother demanded.

"I know what the Szelskys are doing with their money," I answered. "They're paying the Alchemists to take Lissa off the throne."


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter Eleven

I paced up and down the aisle on the plane, berating myself. "I should have realized sooner that she wasn't to be trusted. Princess Szelsky didn't show any support for Lissa until she failed her own trial for the throne. Of course she wanted to become part of the inner circle at Court once she realized she would never be queen."

"It makes sense," Abe agreed. "A young, inexperienced queen without her own family to guide and support her should have been easy to control."

I snorted. "Anyone who thinks that doesn't know Lissa very well."

"Princess Szelsky must have come to that same conclusion if she has decided to remove Lissa from the throne."

"But what good does that do her? She has no reason to believe that she'd be any more successful claiming the throne this time."

"I would say she has every reason to believe that," Abe interjected. "I'm sure that the Alchemists are going to demand to have an input on the next monarch."

"The Council will never allow that."

"The Council needs the Alchemists. They may not have a choice."

I growled in frustration. "I bet they'll feel differently after I tell them who's behind this whole scheme in the first place." I pulled my phone out, but my mom laid her hand over it before I could dial.

"Hold on, Rose. I'm sure the Alchemists are monitoring calls. We don't want to tip them off that we're coming."

"Not to mention, you can't be certain that the Szelskys are behind this," Abe put in.

"Come on, Abe. Someone at Court is working with the Alchemists. The Szelskys are funneling money to a mysterious source that we haven't been able to trace for weeks. It makes sense that they're connected."

"It's logical, yes, but hardly definitive."

"So we're not going to confront them?"

"We're not going to storm in there half-cocked."

I tried not to take personal offense at that, considering going off half-cocked was kind of my signature move. "What are we going to do, then?"

"I'm going to call Bianca and try to find some hard evidence to confirm our current theory. Janine, you're going to figure out for us to get into that trial."

"I am?"

He grinned at her. "Of course."

"And me?" It was weird to let someone else take charge of a crazy scheme, and extra weird for it to be my father. I couldn't decide if all the similarities between us were comforting or disturbing.

"You are going to monitor what's going on at Court. We need to know what we're walking into."

Not the most exciting assignment, but I was the only one who could do it. I sat for another moment watching my parents swing into action before slipping into Lissa's head.

* * *

I lay across my bed, only because I couldn't take any more pacing around my room. Unfortunately, it wasn't so easy to keep my mind still. There was more than enough to keep it occupied, of course, and yet the one topic I was trying to avoid was the one that my brain insisted on returning to, time and time again.

Rose. I was so mad at myself for calling out to her at the first sign of trouble. I could only hope that she hadn't heard it. With as little as we'd used our bond since it was restored, it wasn't like she'd be expecting me to reach out to her. I had wanted to, of course, hundreds of times, but I'd been doing so well at giving Rose her space. And I could have ruined it all with one thoughtless moment.

I should have been thinking about how to handle Alchemists in my court, trying to piece together clues as far as who was behind bringing them in. The problem was, enough of my court was against me that my list of suspects was far too long, and shut up by myself I could hardly do much to start cutting it down. Part of me almost would have liked to have let the Alchemists take me off the throne, but a bigger part of me knew that I couldn't let them get away with it. Fighting against the corruption of the Court was a long, grinding battle, but I knew that it was one that had to be fought. I certainly didn't trust any of the other royal houses to protect anyone's interests except their own, and that was before one of them had revealed themselves to be allied with the Alchemists against me.

I couldn't help but think that Rose would be able to clear this up if she was here, but I shut that thought down before it led to me reaching through the bond again. Rose deserved the chance to live her own life without being entangled in my problems. Dimitri didn't say much about what she was doing with her parents, but he had let slip that she was considering staying.

I felt like I was missing a limb with Rose gone, but I was trying to convince myself that I was happy that she was discovering her family. And I was happy for her. I just wished that it didn't hurt so much to let her go.

I sprang to my feet as the door opened, reaching for the stake I kept on my bedside table. Christian arched an eyebrow as he closed the door at his back. "I really don't like these Alchemists, but I don't think they're working with Strigoi."

I smiled weakly at him as I set the stake back down. "Turns out pretty much anything you stab in the heart dies." Rose was fond of saying that.

"Funny you should bring her up-"

"How'd you get in here?" I interrupted him.

"Threatened to burn the place down."

"Christian!"

"If they lay one finger on you I'd do it in a heartbeat."

I crossed the room to wrap my arms around his waist. "Thank you. But we don't want to see anyone hurt."

"That must be the royal we, because I've got a couple on my list I wouldn't mind frying."

"I think I'm the one on the hot seat right now."

"Dimitri is working on an escape plan. And getting back to Rose-"

"We weren't talking about Rose."

"Dimitri told me, Lissa."

"Told you what?" I asked, stepping out of his hold.

"You and Rose are bonded again. You have been since you defeated the Master."

"You mean since Rose defeated him." All I'd done was go on a Spirit-crazed road trip that had gotten my best friend killed. Temporarily, I'm sure others would be quick to point out, but did it really make a difference?

"The point is, you can talk to her. You can get her back here-"

"I don't want Rose back here."

"You don't mean that," he told me.

"Yes, I do," I insisted.

"Lissa, I don't know what's going on with you, but surely under the circumstances-"

"The darkness is back. It came back when I saved Rose." I didn't know if it was being bonded again that caused it or if it was just that expenditure of that much Spirit, but the two were definitely linked somehow.

"And you're just now telling me?"

I was too much of a coward to face him, so I lay back down on the bed and closed my eyes. "It's not a big deal. It's manageable, almost always. But when Rose is around it…wants her, I guess. It feels hungry almost, and it tries to go to her. And I won't let it. But between holding it back and hiding it from her it makes me…"

"Bitchy?" Christian suggested.

I swung towards his voice but missed. "I was pretty awful, wasn't I?"

I felt him climb onto the bed beside me and didn't fight him when he pulled me into his chest. "There's an easy fix here, Liss. Let Rose absorb some of the darkness. We know more now than we did the first time you were bonded, and you've both gotten better at managing it. It doesn't have to get as bad as last time. Let her share the burden."

"She shouldn't have to share the burden, Christian. She's building a life with her parents. I don't want to take that away from her."

"Instead you're just going to let her think that you hate her?"

I shrugged jerkily, ignoring the sharp pain in my chest at the thought.

"You're such a martyr."

That brought me upright, glaring down at him. "And why not?" I demanded. "You know that ridiculous saying the dhampir have, 'They come first.' Why should I come first? Maybe Rose should come first this time."

"And maybe Rose should have all of the information before she makes her own decision."

"And I don't get a say in this?"

"Be honest, you want Rose back."

"Of course I want Rose back!"

"Then call her, use the bond."

I huffed and slumped back down to the mattress. "I already did," I admitted.

"What?"

"As soon as the Alchemists showed up. It was just, reflex."

"Excellent. So when she comes-"

"IF she comes."

"She will."

"What if she doesn't?"

"Dimitri is investigating, best he can anyways. We'll uncover who's behind this and set it straight. And if we can't figure it out - worst case scenario? The Alchemists depose you, we leave Court, assume new identities, and live out our lives in quiet anonymity."

I chuckled. "And what about the rest of our world?"

"Who cares? To hell with them." He twined his fingers through mine. "I'll get you out, Lissa. Let the rest burn."

I didn't think I could ever walk away, but right at the moment, it was nice to lie there with him and pretend.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter Twelve

I jumped back into my own head, stunned by what I had discovered. I couldn't believe that Lissa thought she could chase me off for my own good. "She's insufferable," I told my mother.

"What happened?" she asked.

I shook my head. "Nothing that affects the immediate situation. Lissa and Christian are being left alone in her room. Dimitri is trying to figure out what's going on. They're planning an escape if things go wrong."

"We'll do what we can to help them get away if it comes to that," my mother assured me.

"It won't," I replied. "I'm not letting Lissa lose her throne." If nothing else, my time back in her head had reminded me of how seriously Lissa took her duties as queen. There was no doubt in my mind that we were all better off with her in charge. Even if some of us had trouble admitting it, myself included.

"Well, one thing that's going right is that Bianca has substantiated your theory," my father announced.

"What? Just like that? We've been searching for answers for weeks!"

"It helps immensely if you know what you're looking for. Once I put her on the right trail, it was remarkably easy for her to trace the businesses the Szelskys are 'losing' money to back to the Alchemists. Most of them are shell companies that the humans use to disguise their interactions with the supernatural."

"So that's it, right? We can expose them to the rest of the Council."

"We can, as soon as we figure out how to get into that trial." We both turned to look at my mother.

"It shouldn't be too difficult. According to several people I talked to, the Alchemists are planning on holding an open trial."

"I don't know what that means," I admitted.

"It means that all Moroi of standing are welcome to attend the trial."

I frowned. "Aren't they worried about a fight?"

"Not if the Szelskeys have convinced everyone to let them have their way. Half the Court doesn't support Lissa anyway."

"So what's our plan?" I asked.

"Abe has enough standing to get into the trial. We'll go as his bodyguards. His connection to you isn't widely known. We'll have to disguise ourselves."

"I'll have supplies waiting for us." Abe pulled out his phone and started texting.

"If everything goes smoothly, we'll just walk in with Abe and wait for an opportunity to act. If that doesn't work, we'll use the old vents to get into the building."

"What old vents?" I asked,

"The old system that Air Users used to circulate warm or cool air through the building before there were other methods of heating or cooling. It's almost entirely boarded up now, but there's still an entrance behind the statue of St. Anna at the rear of the building."

"How do you know this?" I demanded.

She smiled. "You two aren't the only ones who can have contacts."

"This is a major security breach. Who else knows about these vents?"

"It's a very closely guarded secret, Rose. But don't worry, the vents are watched."

"Watched by who?"

"Perhaps our bigger problem at the moment is dealing with the Alchemists," my father suggested.

"Fine," I said. "We walk in with Abe or we sneak in through the vents. Then what?"

My mother shrugged. "Then you do what you do best."

"That's it? That's our entire plan?"

My mother was unapologetic. "It's hard to make a plan when we don't know what we're walking into."

Fair enough. And winging it was my best ability anyways. "Okay." I fastened my seatbelt as the nose of the plane started to dip. "Let's do this."

We were met at the small, regional airport by one of Abe's men. As I climbed into the back of the limo, it occurred to me that there were certain parts of Abe's lifestyle that I was going to miss once I was back on guardian duty.

My mother immediately started digging through the bags waiting for us in the back of the vehicle. "Take the brunette, Rose, the blonde will look more natural with my coloring."

"What?" I looked up just in time to catch the wig she tossed at me. I grimaced down at it in my lap. "I hate wigs."

"We could always cut and dye your hair."

Over my dead body. "I love wigs," I said.

A man slid in beside me and grabbed my chin. "What the-"

Abe grabbed my hand as I reached for my stake. "This is Paul. He's going to disguise you."

"Good bone structure," Paul mused. "Stunning face, though it looks like you've got a bruise coming on. Pity to cover it all up – not the shiner, I mean."

"We don't have a lot of time," I pointed out as my mother deliberately avoided my glare.

"Then we'd best get started," he replied. "Don't move."

I did my best to hold still while he smeared some kind of putty around my face. "Soften the jaw, widen the nose…it's a sin to hide these cheekbones," Paul muttered while he worked.

"I'm infiltrating a trial, not entering a beauty pageant."

"Shh…don't talk until that sets up," he told me. He jumped seats to start working on my mother.

Abe glanced up from a file he was holding. "Impressive, Paul, as always."

"What-"

"Don't talk!" Paul and Abe both snapped at me.

I rolled my eyes, then reached over to tap the papers Abe was reading.

"Just something I wanted to check on before we got to Lissa's trial. Hopefully we won't need it, but if they insist on going through with the trial, I think I have a way to help."

I tried to read over his shoulder, but then Paul was back, fussing with contours and adjusting my wig. "Perfect," he announced. He tapped my nose a few times. "Seems well set up. You can talk now."

"What are you planning, Abe?" I asked.

We rounded a bend and the walls of Court came into view.

"No time now," Abe told me. "Do you trust me?"

I looked across at my mom, who looked nothing like herself with all of her freckles covered up and the blonde wig on. She shrugged and nodded at me.

"I don't know if I should," I told Abe, "but yeah, I trust you."

He beamed at me while we took our place in line at the gates of Court. It wasn't quite how I had planned to return home, but nothing ever seemed to go according to plan for me. A quick check through the bond showed Lissa getting dressed, preparing for what may be her last appearance as queen of the Moroi.

"Hang on Liss," I whispered, trying to push some positive thoughts through the bond. "I'm coming."


	13. Chapter 13

**Bonus chapter! We're getting closer to the end and I have things mostly wrapped up, so you might get a few early updates from here on out. Thanks for all the feedback, you guys are the best. Cheers!**

Chapter Thirteen

At first I thought the plan was going to work perfectly. As we pulled up to the gates, I struggled to remain calm and relaxed. I reminded myself that I looked completely different as the Alchemists subjected us to a careful examination. I didn't think they actually studied us any longer than the car in front of us, but it certainly felt like they did.

They stepped back and waved us through, but my relief was short-lived.

"Your guardians can escort you to the building, but they're not allowed inside the trial," the Alchemist announced.

"Then you have to guarantee his safety," my mother replied.

"Our goal is to conduct a peaceful investigation," he told her. "If everyone cooperates, no one will get hurt. Your Moroi will return to you unharmed."

"If he is not," my mother warned, "it will not go well with you."

I wasn't sure how much my mother was playing a part right now and how much she genuinely worried for Abe's safety. I had to admit that I didn't like the thought of letting him out of my sight when I was supposedly protecting him, even if that was just a cover for getting to Lissa. Judging by the expressions of the guardians getting out of the surrounding vehicles, no one was happy with the situation.

I suppose it was a wise move on the part of the Alchemists to keep dhampirs out of the trial. We were by far Lissa's most loyal followers, and also the most likely to start a fight. But I don't think the Alchemists realized quite how seriously we took our duty. If Moroi got hurt today, there was going to be no holding us back.

Part of me almost wished for an excuse to wipe out the Alchemists. They'd certainly caused us enough trouble, though most of that was due to Sydney and Adrian's relationship. I knew that they served an important role in keeping us hidden from the world, and this was the first time that they'd directly interfered in Lissa's reign. I knew we had to handle this in a controlled manner, but the more bloodthirsty part of my nature wanted to make damn sure the Alchemists couldn't pull a stunt like this again.

"That's it!"

I whirled around at Abe's cry, surprised to see he was still buried in the file he'd been studying in the limo. "You've figured out how to stop the trial?"

"We don't want to stop it," he told me.

"We don't?" my mother repeated.

He closed the folder with a snap. "I'd better get in there." With barely a glance at either of us, he turned and strode into the building. I automatically started after him, but when a stern-faced Alchemist waved me off I held my hands up and stepped back.

"What was that?" I asked my mother.

She shook her head. "I have no idea."

"Well we'd better get in there, too. Saint Anna's on the other side of the building, right?"

"Yes, you go ahead. I think I'll stay out here."

"What?"

"I'm going to scout around, plan out an escape route for Vasalisa if this goes bad."

"Zmey seemed to think he had it all under control now."

My mother gave me an arch look. "Why do you think I'm looking for a backup plan?" With that, she turned and strolled off.

I tried to look equally casual as I went the opposite direction, towards the back of the building. I'd vaguely been aware of Saint Anna's statue back here, but I'd never paid much attention to it. I mostly tried to avoid Anna, since most references to her were extremely vague and more likely to piss me off than actually provide helpful insight to what it meant to be Shadow-kissed.

"I've done all right just figuring it out as I go," I muttered as I looked for signs of an entrance to the building. "And what the hell good does planning everything out in advance do anyways? Nobody follows the plan. Soon as we got in here, Abe's off with a plan of his own and my mother's already expecting things to fall apart and I'm…talking to a statue," I realized.

Since I was there, I took a minute to study Anna's face. "Did you know what you were doing? 'Cause I certainly don't. But I bet Vlad never tried to get rid of you." Of course, when I considered the stories of Anna's instability later in life, it became much easier to understand why Lissa would be hesitant to let me absorb any of her darkness. "There's got to be a way to find a balance," I insisted. "Or I could just convince Lissa I'm already unbalanced, since I'm having a conversation with a lump of granite when I'm supposed to be rescuing her."

Stepping around the statue, I examined the wall behind her. There was a large plaque, detailing Anna's many achievements in life. "Impressive, but kind of unnecessary," I told her. Unless…the overly large plaque would easily be big enough for someone to crawl through. And sure enough, when I inspected the edges, I found tiny hinges along one side. "Please don't squeak," I whispered as I pulled at the opposite side. It swung open surprisingly smoothly, making me wonder if these vents were really as abandoned as my mother insisted.

The dark opening was not the most welcoming thing I had ever seen, and I can't say that I was very excited about crawling into it; but I didn't have a lot of time to consider other options. The trial was starting any moment now, and I had to be there. "Wish me luck," I said to Anna as I stepped through the wall and pulled the plaque to behind me.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter Fourteen

I quickly pulled out my phone and used its light to take a look around. A disturbing number of cobwebs, but no big fat spiders. Of course, as soon as I thought it, I instantly felt something brushing against my shoulder. I jumped and whirled, only to realize it was my fake hair. I pulled the wig off and left it on the floor. While I was at it, I peeled off as much of the face putty as I could. It seemed a shame to undo all of Paul's work so quickly, but it had served its purpose and it really wasn't very comfortable.

I had only a vague idea of where the Council chambers were in relation to my current location, but for the moment it didn't matter. I was standing at the bottom of a vertical shaft and the only way to go was up. Using the rungs placed inside the shaft, I started to climb.

The Council chambers were on the first floor of the building, so I clambered off the ladder and into the first tunnel I came to. It was large enough for me to fit into comfortably, if such a word can really be applied to crawling down a metal shaft on your hands and knees. I scooted along as quickly as I could, taking a quick peek inside Lissa's head to assure myself that she hadn't left her room yet.

There were tiny outlets along the vents to let the air circulate into the building, but trying to orient yourself from inside a wall when you can only see a tiny bit of the hallway is nearly impossible. I came to a Y in the tunnels and realized I had no idea which way to go.

After a brief internal debate I called my mother.

She picked up almost immediately. "Rose, this really isn't a good time," she whispered.

"Then why did you answer your phone?"

"In case you were in trouble. Are you?"

"I'm lost."

"You couldn't find the vents?"

"I'm in the vents. But how the heck am I supposed to find the Council chambers?"

"Why should I know? I've never been in the vents, and you've spent way more time than me at Court."

"So what-"

"Sorry, Rose," my mother cut me off. "I have to go. Call your father."

Honestly, if anyone had a map to these vents, it was probably Abe, but I hesitated to call him. I didn't know if he'd been allowed to keep his phone, and if an Alchemist was holding it, the last thing I wanted was to have my name pop up on the screen.

In the end I decided to go with luck and headed down the right hand tunnel. There were no distinguishing features inside the vent and I was just about ready to turn around and try the other direction when I came to a grate across the tunnel floor. It gave me a much better view of the room below than the tiny side vents into the hallways had, but unfortunately I still didn't know where I was. The sitting room below looked familiar to me, but most of the rooms in the Court were decorated in the same style. I wasn't sure how this was going to help me find the Council chambers, but then I lucked out when two Alchemists walked into the room.

"This one's empty," the one announced after a quick scan of the room.

"Come on," the other one said, "let's get back to the main room. If there's any trouble, that's where it will break out."

I seized my opportunity and followed them, or at least, I tried to. The vents didn't follow the hallways exactly. I lost them pretty quickly, but they got me pointed in the right direction and once I got closer to the Council chambers, the noise of the gathering crowd made it easy for me to find my way. It didn't take me long to find a grate over the Council chambers. I still couldn't see as much as I would like, but I was in position. Now all I had to do was…

Okay, I didn't have a clue. I had been so focused on finding a way to the trial, I hadn't given much thought to what to do once I was there. The room below me was packed with Moroi, none of whom I wanted to get hurt. There were a few guardians below, including Lissa's protective detail. Together we might be able to overpower the Alchemists, but I couldn't vouch for anyone's safety in the process, including my own. Plenty of the humans down there were carrying guns. I could quite happily go the rest of my life without getting shot again.

The tension in the room was almost palpable, and it only increased when the door opened and Lissa was ushered in. She had, at least, been given the opportunity to dress herself appropriately. In a heavy red gown laced with black, she looked every inch the queen. She glided to her throne and took a seat, no hint of the panic I could feel through our bond showing on her face.

The Alchemist leader took a stand in front of the throne, facing the assembled crowd. "As is now known to all gathered here, we have been made aware of a threat to the human population and the secrecy of the Moroi world by the erratic and unpredictable nature of Vasalisa Dragomir's manifestations of Spirit."

"What we don't know is who made you aware," a familiar voice called out. I leaned over the grate to catch a glimpse of Adrian. He was standing in a group with Christian, Jill, and a handful of people I recognized as Lissa's closest supporters. I leaned farther, looking for Dimitri or my father.

Adrian's challenge had sparked an outcry among the crowd, especially the Council. They were demanding answers from the Alchemists, who were refusing to provide any information. I couldn't hear the grate working loose over the noise of the trial, but I felt it give way beneath me, spilling me to the floor in a sudden, unexpected rush.

I managed to tuck and roll as I landed, coming to my feet without serious injury. I used the bond to keep myself oriented towards Lissa until I was steady on my feet. My dramatic entrance had brought a halt to the shouting, but I was uncomfortably aware of the number of weapons currently pointed in my direction.

Do what you do best, my mother had told me. With a great deal of false bravado, I strode toward the dais. Maybe it was because I was sweaty and dirty and gross from crawling through the vents, but Lissa looked particularly cool and in control of the situation from where she sat on her throne. A thread of relief was working its way through the panic, but her face remained impassive. I didn't know if it was because I was tired and sore or if it was because she just looked so much like the queen or if it was some other reason altogether that I didn't have time to examine, but it felt incredibly easy to kneel in front of Lissa at the base of the steps.

"Your Majesty, with your permission, I can answer the Council's questions."


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter Fifteen

In the long beat of silence that followed, it occurred to me that I couldn't remember ever bowing to Lissa before. As a member of her protection detail, I was always exempt from such protocol, given leave to stay on my feet and alert for threats. I had never been crazy about bowing to Tatania, but I realized that bowing to Lissa wasn't nearly as difficult as I had thought it would be.

"Guardian Hathaway, it is good to see you returned." Although her tone remained formal, there was a warmth in the bond that told me how sincerely she meant that.

"It is good to be back, your majesty, though I wish I brought better news."

"Guardian Hathaway, do not think the Council has forgotten that you were removed from this Court in disgrace," Princess Szelsky interjected.

Ah yes, I had no doubt that many of the Council members were unhappy to see me, but she had more reason than anyone else to be upset at my timing.

"Was I?" I smiled at her. "Or was I sent by my queen to uncover corruption at the very highest levels of her court?"

One word from Lissa here could ruin that little fantasy, but she held her silence, simply gesturing for me to rise, which I did gratefully.

"You cannot worm your way back in here by pretending to have uncovered a plot that is now out in the open for all to see," Princess Szelsky warned me.

"Am I pretending when I say that I have discovered evidence that the Szelsky family has been secretly funding the Alchemists for over a year under the cover of business losses on deals that never happened with companies that don't exist?"

I felt the bolt of shock through the bond, and this time a hint of it showed on Lissa's face. A wave of outrage swept through the Council, but Princess Szelsky wasn't backing down.

"How dare you access our private information?"

"She was operating on my authority," Lissa cut in. Damn did it feel good to have her backing me up again, even if we were both lying through our teeth. "Although I suppose that does not mean much to you. How it must have angered you when you realized that I am no puppet queen. I can almost understand the politics of it, Arianna. But to have brought the humans in to officiate our business?"

She turned a benign smile on the Alchemist. "Of course, I mean no offense."

He offered a slight bow. "There is none taken, your majesty. But I am afraid it does not matter how or from whom the accusations are made. The trial process has commenced, and these allegations of misuse of power still stand. We have a right, indeed a sacred duty, to investigate."

"Such is your right, of course, Grand Master, though people will tell you I hold very little sacred."

I bit back a groan at my father's voice. He posed in the doorway, impeccably dressed, a stylish scarf draped around his shoulders. My mother gave me a little shrug from where she stood at his shoulder.

I had no clue what those two were up to, but at least their entrance drew everyone's attention, giving me an opportunity to bound up the steps to Lissa's side. Nathan and Dimitri likewise took advantage of the situation to move in, taking up a defensive stance between Lissa and the crowd.

"Quite the entrance," Dimitri murmured as he passed me.

"Would you believe me if I said I planned it like that?"

"No," he and Lissa said together. A bubble of warmth spread in my chest as they chuckled and the tension that had sat there for the past several weeks dissolved. I had enjoyed my time with my parents, but this is where I belonged.

Meanwhile, the Grand Master, assuming my father had his title right, was restoring order. "I am pleased that we are in agreement, Mr…?"

"I represent the queen's legal interests," my father announced.

The irony of it almost made my choke. "And your illegal ones," I whispered to Lissa.

"Before this trial proceeds, I would like to make her majesty aware of her rights. In particular, her right to trial by combat." A disbelieving silence hung over the room before my father continued, "through a chosen representative, of course."

I perked up at that. The Grand Master looked unhappy, but he nodded begrudgingly. "It is the right of the accused, if she so chooses."

Lissa didn't hesitate. "I wish to invoke my right of trial by combat."

The Grand Master gave one abrupt nod. "Then name your champion."

Both Nathan and Dimitri turned to the throne. I badly wanted to state my case, but I forced myself to bite my tongue, even though it felt like I was about to chew it off. If I was going to start abiding by Lissa's decisions and not arguing with her in public, I'd best start now.

"Gentlemen," Lissa said warmly, and I swear my heart stopped in my chest. "I am truly honored by your willingness, gentlemen, but Rose is my champion."

My heart started up again, thumping heavily in my chest. It wasn't exactly the appropriate time to cheer, but I caught Lissa's eye for a long moment and that feeling of being back in sync was definitely something to celebrate. I tried not to strut as I walked down the stairs. A different Rose might have stuck her tongue out at Nathan, but the new, mature Rose settled for winking at Dimitri.

"A trial by combat is hereby convened under the blessing of the Light. A champion has been named in defense of Vasalisa Dragomir, who stands accused of succumbing to the corrupting influence of Spirit. Should this champion fall, the accused shall be found unfit to rule and will be expected to peaceably surrender her throne. Does the accused so agree?"

"I do," Lissa answered.

"In accordance to the guidelines set down within the Alchemical by-laws," my father broke in, "the trial is to take place in a clearly marked ring of a fifteen foot diameter. If a champion breaks the boundary, they are seen to have forfeited the trial. If anyone else breaks the boundary, the trial shall be declared null and reconvened in a more secure time and location." A man appeared at my father's elbow with a piece of chalk and a tape measure. "By your leave, Grand Master, I shall supervise the drawing of the combat field."

The Grand Master waved him on, a sour look on his face. My mother drifted to my side as Abe and his minions got to work. "What are you doing?" I whispered.

"You know how your father loves to make an entrance," my mother said by way of explanation.

"What about our escape route?"

"Eddie is taking care of it, if needed. I saw my opportunity to get in here and decided to check on your father. I don't think we'll need to run, Rose. Abe has a plan. Everything is under control."

It was far from a satisfactory answer, but I let it go, preoccupied with other things. "Lissa called me her champion!" I couldn't hold my grin back any more as I replayed her announcement.

"Yes, I was right here when she did." My mom relented and squeezed my hand. "It's good to see you two in tandem again."

"It feels good." I rolled my shoulders. "Almost as good as kicking this champion's ass is going to feel."

"They're certain to pick a Warrior of the Light, and they get to pick the weapon."

I wrinkled my nose. "What do you think the chances are they pick stakes?"

"It will almost certainly be swords. Do you know how to use one?"

"Stick him with the pointy end?"

"Good enough. And remember, you promised to stop accidentally dying."

"Sure, next time I'll make sure it's on purpose."

She scolded me as my father finished the circle. "Good luck," she said as she left the ring.


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter Sixteen

"The champion of the Light," the Grand Master intoned.

I turned to see a brawny man step forward, easily as tall as Dimitri but much broader. I actually felt relieved. Size I could deal with. Some of the smaller men in the crowd struck me as more dangerous, but they had apparently chosen to go with the intimidation route. They clearly didn't know Rose Hathaway.

"What's that make you, champion of the dark? Seems a bit biased." I grinned at Adrian even as Sidney elbowed him.

"To be fair, we are nocturnal." I told him.

"It is time to determine the method of combat," the Grand Master announced, glaring at us disapprovingly. "The accuser shall have the right of choice. How chooses he?"

"Swords." My opponent answered the question almost before it was asked.

Two Alchemists stepped forward, offering us identical blades. I gave mine a few experimental swings. Not really at that heavy, but very different from a stake. "I don't really need three feet of steel to fight," I commented to no one in particular before eyeing my opponent up. "Compensating for something?"

That got a few muffled chuckles from the crowd, but the big guy just stared at me. A man of few words.

"A champion of the Light has been named," my father started before the Grand Master could say anything. "Should that champion fall, the Alchemists shall recognize the sovereignty of Vasalisa Dragomir, queen of the Moroi, first of her name, and will be expected to withdraw peacefully from the Court. Does the accuser so agree?"

Most of the crowd swung to Princess Szelsky, but she was starting fixedly ahead, careful to make no eye contact. Finally, the Grand Master answered. "I do."

"Then with the blessing of the Light, may the right side be granted victory today."

A muscle ticked in the Grand Master's jaw. He clearly did not like to have someone else stepping on his lines. With a curt wave, he stepped out of the ring and left me to face my opponent.

I saluted Lissa with my sword, briefly wondering if I was overdoing this subservience thing, and then took up a defensive stance. My opponent mirrored me and we stood studying each other. The moment drew on, but I didn't move. Combat was the one time I actually had some patience.

Finally, he stalked towards me, lunging forward as soon as he got within range. I parried him easily, quickly returning to a solid stance. We exchanged a few more blows, neither of us really putting much into them, both trying to get the measure of the other.

I was clearly faster than him, which was only to be expected, special tattoo or no. And despite the size difference, he wasn't really that much stronger than me. The problem was, between the two of us he clearly had superior sword skills. I knew a little more than what I had told my mother, but it wasn't my weapon of choice.

I was fairly confident that I could keep fending him off for a long time, but in my experience the longer a fight when on, the more likely something would go wrong. Of course, that applied to my whole life, but when a large man with a sword was coming at me, it seemed particularly prudent to not prolong the situation.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw my father whispering in Lissa's ear. It looked like he was showing her something in that mysterious file of his. I was so distracted trying to see what might be more interesting than some big guy trying to chop me up with a sword that he almost managed to get me. Dimitri's curt "Roza!" was the only thing that saved me from losing in a rather gruesome fashion right there. I turned just in time to parry the attack and then tried going on the offensive.

I managed to drive him back a few steps, but it quickly became apparent that I wasn't going to be able to get past his guard. I was growing frustrated. I knew how to fight, damn it! Just not with swords. Hand to hand is where I excelled.

That was an idea. My mother's advice of "do what you do best" had gotten me this far. Time to see if it would go a little further. I once again sprang in close to attack. This time, when he parried my sword, I let him twist it out of my hand and laid a line of blows down his ribs. That's what I was talking about.

We each caught our balance at opposite ends of the ring and turned to face each other. He immediately charged again, clearly intent on taking advantage of his opening before I recovered my weapon. Unfortunately for him, that's exactly what I was hoping for.

I sidestepped his attack and grabbed his wrist, just like I'd practiced with my mother. His own momentum carried him forward, allowing me to twist his arm behind his back. I pulled his sword out of his hand and kicked him in the back of the knees, sending him to the floor. As he rolled over I stepped up and placed my boot on his chest, tapping his nose with his sword. "Gotcha."

The Grand Master stepped forward. "It is the right of the victor to decide the fate of the vanquished."

"The fate?" It took me a second to catch on. "Oh, you mean…" I drew the sword lightly across his neck. It was on the tip of my tongue to let him go when it occurred to me that this was probably a queenly decision. Keeping the sword at his throat, I pivoted to face Lissa. "Your Majesty?"

"The Alchemists came by invitation and have agreed to withdraw in peace. We shall not shed blood here today."

I let out a little sigh of relief as I stepped back and allowed the Alchemist to stand. I don't know what I would have done if she had ordered me to kill him. I'd stake Strigoi until my arm fell off, but I had no desire to kill humans. But she hadn't ordered it, and maybe it was time for me to start trusting her to make the right decision instead of thinking that I had to choose for her.

"I believe it's time for you to leave now," Nathan told the Grand Master.

My father jumped in as the Alchemists began to gather near the door. "Under the light, Her Majesty Vasalisa Dragomir has been found innocent of all wrongdoings through due process in the pursuit of justice. Is the Grand Master satisfied?"

The Grand Master looked anything but satisfied, but he nodded shortly. "Justice has been served and the truth has been revealed. With the blessing of the Light, the case is closed." He turned and started out the door with his people.

"Grand Master," Lissa called, stopping him in the doorway. "I think you will find under our agreement that once a case has been closed with the blessing of the light, it cannot be reopened. We have been courteous in allowing you to observe your bylaws. Should you violate our agreement and invade my court once again, do not expect so warm a welcome."

I grinned at her as the Alchemists stormed out of the room. Several guardians followed them out, no doubt making sure they left Court without creating any trouble. My mother drifted to my side and picked my hand up. "Look at this, all five still attached."

I chuckled and gave her a light shove. "How's that for disarming a human?"

"Excellently done. Aren't you glad I made you practice that, now?"

"Yes, yes, mother knows best."

"There is much to discuss in light of these events," Lissa announced, quieting all the conversations rippling through the room. "Let us take some time to organize our thoughts and process these revelations. Tomorrow the Council shall convene to discuss our best path forward." The Council members nodded to her as Princess Szelsky sat with her eyes down and two spots of color high on her cheeks. Regally, Lissa turned and swept from the room.

"Give me that and go after her." My mother took the sword out of my hand and gave me a shove.

Almost more nervous than I'd been in the middle of a sword fight, I hurried after Lissa.


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter Seventeen

I was almost running by the time I caught up to Lissa in her sitting room, so when she turned suddenly we sort of slammed into each other. It's a good thing my mother took the sword before this turned into a very tragic reunion.

"I missed you," Lissa told me.

We were going to have to hash out everything hanging between us, but before we jumped into all of that, this might be the perfect place to start. "I missed you, too."

Then she pinched me. I jumped back, glaring at her. "What the-"

"That's for believing that I would consider letting Tasha go. She shot you, Rose! As far as I'm concerned, she can rot in Tarasov."

I threw my arms out in exasperation. "Why didn't you say that in the first place?"

"Because you burst in when Christian and I were in the middle of a fight! I had just managed to talk him down to a reasonable level. I wasn't about the escalate things again by announcing that I would never consider letting her out."

"Why would he think you should?"

"She's the only family he has. Can you blame him for not wanting her to spend the rest of her life locked up?"

That seemed like a loaded question, considering who my father was, so I left it lie. "I'm sorry I put you in that position."

"And I'm sorry that I was so awful about it. It's just that…what I mean is…"

The second time she trailed off I decided to give her a hand. "It's because the darkness is back."

She reached out and pinched me again.

"Ouch! Stop that!"

"That's for spying through the bond."

"I only looked after you called me. I had to know what was going on here before I came, didn't I?"

"Oh. Sorry."

"And why didn't you tell me the darkness was back? I could have been here helping instead of taking off halfway around the globe!"

"The darkness is my problem."

I flicked her in the forehead. "Don't be stupid. Your problems are my problems."

"Because I'm Moroi royalty and you're just a dhampir?"

"Because you're my best friend. I love you, Liss. Please don't shut me out again."

"You know I love you too, Rose. I shut you out because I love you."

"I know, and I can't really lecture you on it because I do the exact same thing. But that's obviously not working. We got this far together, Liss. Look at us! You're the queen of the Moroi and I'm…"

"Don't be modest now. You're the most famous dhampir in the world."

"Exactly! We can change the world. But we're not going to accomplish anything if we're fighting with each other all the time and trying to do things on our own."

"I suppose this means that you want to start absorbing some of the darkness again."

"We'll take it day by day. I can absorb some of it, Lissa. We don't let it get as bad as last time. But this will only work on one condition."

Lissa looked wary. "What is that?"

"We have to talk to each other. I promise that I won't keep things from you. I'll let you know if the darkness is affecting me too much. And anytime I have to argue with you, I'll do it in private."

"Rose, you don't have to promise me anything. I know you ran back here because I was in trouble and I do appreciate it, but you should have the chance to build your life with your parents if you want."

"Thanks, but no thanks. I had fun with them, but that's not my life, Liss. I want to be your guardian, truly. I was already planning to come back before the Alchemists showed up. I just had to adjust my plans when all hell broke loose."

"Story of our lives," Lissa said with a sigh.

I grinned. "And I love it."

Lissa chuckled a little and shook her head. "Alright. I promise that I won't keep things from you. I'll let you know if the darkness is affecting me too much. And if I have to argue with you, I'll do it in private."

"Are you guys practicing wedding vows, or what?" Christian asked as he strolled in.

I turned to throw some sarcastic comment at him, but then I saw who came into the room behind him. Bypassing Christian, I went straight into Dimitri's arms. "Hi, Comrade."

"Roza."

We stood there for a long moment before Christian awkwardly cleared his throat. "I believe you two have a lovely apartment of your own."

"Christian!" Lissa scolded, but Dimitri was in complete agreement. "We'll see you two tomorrow," he said.

"Rose!" I stopped and turned back to Lissa. "You don't have to tell me _everything_." She wiggled her eyebrows and looked at Dimitri.

I laughed and let him pull me out of the room.

"What was that?" he asked.

I shook my head. "Nothing." He was walking pretty fast, and I was pretty excited to get back to our place too, but I slowed him down some, enjoying the feeling of strolling through the early morning sunlight with him. "Hey, Dimitri," I asked, "have you always wanted to be a guardian?"

He thought about it for a moment. "Yes. I didn't want to stay in Baia, that's for certain."

"You didn't? But you always enjoy seeing your family so much."

"I love my family, but I would go mad there if I stayed too long." He cocked his head at me. "Why do you ask?"

I hedged my answer slightly, feeling like an idiot. "Just something I've been asking myself lately."

"You and I aren't made for the quiet life, Roza. We're too badass."

He startled a laugh out of me and I grabbed him for a kiss. "I love you."

We started walking again and I let him pick the pace up a little. By the time made it back to our apartment, we were both a little breathless. "You're getting winded, old man."

"I'm not the only one. Skipped your training on vacation, I see."

"Vacation? My mom made the hell you used to put me through look like summer camp. She's a drill sergeant!"

"So you enjoyed your time with her?"

"I did, but…"

"But?" Dimitri prompted.

I hopped into his arms, wrapping my legs around his waist and letting him carry me into the bedroom. "It's good to be home."


End file.
